Boeuf Bourgogne

For lunch today, we had PB&J on store-bought wheat. Something about PB&J requires store-bought bread. My friend Gayle says it requires Wonderbread. I think not. Today marked the first time my husband went to the grocery store in January. $30 for items like creamer, tomato sauce, bread, noodles, cooking wine, salad greens, apples, potatoes... I'm not sure what else. Hopefully parsley as I need that for my stew.

The potatoes were buy one get one free so my husband bought two, and sliced one bag into circles and fries to freeze in small portions so we can make our own French fries later. He must have been chopping potatoes for an hour!

Lunch featured a make-your-own PB&J bar. We had blueberry Trappist and organic red raspberry jellies, and apparently my daughter insisted on celery at the store. So she had PB & celery. Celery and onions are the two foods I detest. I even tossed in some Cool Ranch Doritoes. With a nice healthy stew for dinner, we can afford some decadence.

And dinner... Boeuf Bourgogne...
This recipe comes from the Internet, and I did not attribute its source. It was something to do with a particular wine, not a generic recipe site or a chef's site. It claims a pinot is the key to any beef burgundy... My French cookbooks have recipes for this dish, but they are more complex.

As copied from the 'Net:
Boeuf Bourgogne
3 to 4 pounds chuck roast is 2-inch cubes
1 bottle petite sirah (the wine folks developed the recipe remember)
2 TBS olive oil
1/2 cup flour
2 ribs celery (small dice)
2 medium red onions (one small dice, one chunked)
5 medium carrots (one fine dice, others 2-inch chunks)
2 lbs whole button mushrooms
6 cups beef stock
bouquet garni
salt & pepper

Their directions:
1. In a medium sauce pan, reduce beef stock by 50 percent. Reserve.
2. Add beef cubes to a large bowl. Salt and pepper generously. Dust with flour to coat.
3. Heat olive oil in stock pot or roaster with lid under medium-high heat. Add 1/3 of the beef and brown thoroughly (needs to be dark). Remove and do the same to remainder of beef. Remove beef.
4. Add diced celery, carrots and onion and two tablespoons flour. Cook stirring for five minutes.
5. Add wine, stock, bouquet, and put the beef back in. Reduce to simmer. Put lid partially on and simmer for three hours, stirring occasionally.
6. Add onion, carrots and mushrooms. Cook about 45 minutes, until these vegetables are tender and sauce thickens.

Like everything I cook I adapt this. I reduce the volume, for one. Today I used 1.2 pounds of stew beef from Wegmans. Normally I use beef cubes and then I cut them fairly small. I don't use beef stock, I use vegetable and add the drippings from cooking the beef. I used a handful of diced red onions today, instead of the amount the suggest. And I added them while I browned the beef. (I also threw about 3/4 cup browned hamburger into the vegetable stock while I reduced it. The hamburger was left over from the other day. I used 32 ounces of vegetable stock, which I cut with a cup of water. I used a small bottle of red cooking wine instead of sirah. One of these days, I hope to use real French wine, but I can't bring myself to cook with something I would rather drink. I do not use a bouquet garni, but a handful of fresh parsley. And instead of the celery and mushrooms, I use the more American cubes of potatoes. My family likes it, even if it isn't quite as French by the time I get done. So now it's stewing...